Praise for Declan Burke: “Burke shows again that he’s not just a comic genius, but also a fine dramatic writer and storyteller.” – Booklist. “Proust meets Chandler over a pint of Guinness.” – Spectator. “Among the most memorable books of the year, of any genre.” – Sunday Times. “A hardboiled delight.” – Guardian. “Imagine Donald Westlake and Richard Stark collaborating on a screwball noir.” – Kirkus Reviews. “A cross between Raymond Chandler and Flann O’Brien.” – John Banville.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Declan Burke’s 10 Rules For Better Writing

These days you’re no one unless you’re offering at least 10 rules for better writing. Declan Burke (right), aka Joe No One, joins the fray. To wit:

1. ConsistencyAttention to detail is very important. If you say a character has blue eyes in Chapter One, don’t say he has green eyes in Chapter Four. Unless he has greeny-blue eyes, which are greener in winter and bluer in summer. Or your story is about genetic eye experiments on human guinea-pigs. Or contact lenses. Or a David Bowie-type alien pop star.

2. Use Simple GrammarGo easy on complicated sentence construction. Ration yourself to three commas per page and you won’t go far wrong. Apostrophes are the Devil’s own invention – first-time writers should always try to avoid plurals and possession. Unless your story is about multiple exorcisms. Or multiple orgasms.

3. Narrative ArcDo ensure your novel has a beginning and end, as most reviewers like to read at least a sample of both.

4. Cutting The Dead WoodIt can be hugely helpful to just walk away from your novel for a while, go out into the backyard and split some logs. Not only will you get some fresh air and exercise, you’ll also get that ‘big picture’ perspective you need to squeeze that vital extra thousand words into the chapter you’re working on. And you’ll have logs for winter.

5. Naming Your HeroIt’s in your own interest to give your heroes one-syllable names. Not only will this save you valuable writing time (as opposed to, say, having to type ‘Llandudno Fetherington-Smythe III’ every time your LF-S III hoves into view), it also means your moron reader won’t have to open his or her mouth too long whilst reading, thus cutting down on the likelihood of them swallowing flies and dying of some disgusting disease (see 6), and not being around next year to buy the sequel. If the one-syllable rule constrains your artistic vision, try giving one-syllable ‘pet’ names for longer names – e.g., ‘Pet’ for ‘Petunia Fetherington-Smythe’.

6. Try To Ensure Your Readers Are All MoronsMorons are more forgiving, less judgmental and generally better for karma all round. They’re also notorious for being easily parted from their money.

7. Avoid Clichés Like the PlagueClichés should be avoided like devastating killer epidemics transmitted by parasites carried by rats.

8. Tell, Don’t ShowPeople don’t have a lot of reading time these days, which is why they’re grateful when a writer, as we say in the trade, ‘cuts to the chase’. In fact, it’s probably best if you start your novel with a chase and just keep it up for 300 pages (large type). But don’t ‘blow your wad’ too early. Start with a chase on skateboards, working up to a climactic race to Saturn between space shuttles, via bicycles, jet-packs, helicopters and rocket-propelled whales.

9. Speed Is Of The EssenceEven if it’s inappropriate to your novel to have your hero addicted to amphetamines, do try to ensure your novel has pace. In THE WILD LIFE OF SAILOR AND LULA, for example, Barry Gifford called Sailor and Lula’s son Pace.

10. Don’t Be Afraid To Dumb It DownEvery aspiring writer with at least one rejection slip knows that agents, editors, publicists and publishers are all failed novelists. If the story you send them is too good, they’ll (a) steal it for themselves and make a fortune or (b) ignore it completely, for spite, so that no one benefits. Don’t say you haven’t been warned.

22 comments:

Hysterical.LOVE it.I particularly enjoyed #5.Being a sci-fi/fantasy author, I have to accept that my readers won't fall into the #6 category. Bummer. But, hey, it forces me to avoid the rat-infested cargo ships full of dead people with boils on their skin rising up to take over some colonized planet, eh?

Number 11. Use a pseudonym. Don't worry if someone else has used it. Publishers will snap up your book. Suggested pseudonyms include John Grisham, Stephen King, Danielle Steele, William Shakespeare, King James, and Ken Bruen.

Jerry, this is such a good idea. It not only works for novels, but as with Michael Jackson, it apparently also works for illegal access to prescription drugs. "Josephine Baker"--what a card that Jackson was.

I'd like to add more, but I really don't have time, what with cutting down all the neighborhood telephone poles as my newfound avocation.

Good to see #6 about all readers being morons. The more fiction I read, the truer that seems, to the point that when novels get longer and longer, 450 and 500 pages and more, the more obvious it becomes that the creeps who run the publishing racket are trying to sell books by the pound, which is why they keep getting longer and the explanations seem to be written for the moron readers you specify. For them, everything has to be spelled out nice and clear, and thus more words and pages are needed. That way they get these huge books, twice as long as they ought to be, most of them.